28.12.2010

Three men and a ladder

This morning’s meagre mail brought a couple of photographs from a reader in the USA that qualifies as one of our Death Wish series.

The photos came in with no details or comment at all, they are after all self-explanatory. A brief investigation revealed that the mobile phone photos were taken on Lebon Drive San Diego yesterday – December 27th.
Please register to see all images

Spotted from the road three men and a ladder

It looks as though the three men are there to clean out the gutters, the challenge is how to reach the six metre high gutters with their extendible ladder – complicated by the fact that they had to do it from an elevated terrace the limited depth of which prevented the ladder from being placed at a safe angle.

The solution seems to be to use one of the men as a hanging counterweight on the underside of the ladder. The man up the ladder does not appear overly concerned about the tenuous security of his access equipment and one assumes that they completed the job without drama.
Please register to see all images

A closer look reveals a human counter-balance

This is a classic case of a short job in a challenging place to reach, so few practical options exist. A small scaffold tower would have managed it, while few powered lifts that can reach six metres (four metres platform height) and still be easy to move into such working positions exist. A ladder is just too convenient for such work.